The Marlins’ 2-1 win over the Giants tonight was a huge relief for a team that had lost eight of its last nine games
“I think we needed it as a team to be honest with you. I didn’t think it was necessarily me. This was a team win,” said Bell, who is 3-for-6 in save chances after a rough April.

“We had great pitching, timely bullpen pitching. We had guys stealing bases. Stanton hit that home run.

“It was a huge team win. If you could hear our dugout all nine innings, guys were cheering everybody on. It was a huge team win for us.”

Nolasco pitched into the eighth inning and allowed one run to improve to 3-0 with a 2.76 ERA. He’s now 4-0 with an 0.87 ERA in his career when pitching at AT&T Park.

“I wish I could tell you,” Nolasco said about his San Francisco success. “But as long as I can keep doing it, that’ll be fine.”

The key to the game came in the eighth inning when Mujica relieved Nolasco with the bases loaded and one out. Mujica faced one batter and he got Buster Posey to bounce to second for a double-play.

Mujica bounded off the mound with a big fist pump.

“I got a little bit excited,” Mujica said, explaining his display of emotion, because that was my goal when I came in. Ozzie told me, ‘Just try to make a ground ball. That’s your hitter.’ And I did it.”

The Marlins still didn’t produce the kind of offensive explosion that has been sorely lacking. But they did score first against one of the Giants’ most dominant starters, Matt Cain.

Jose Reyes opened the fourth inning by drawing a walk, the Marlins’ first base runner against Matt Cain. He stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Ramirez slapped a single to right through the drawn-in infield to score Reyes. The run snapped Cain’s streak of 21 straight scoreless innings at AT&T Park. It was the first run he allowed at home since Sept. 13, 2011.

Stanton led off the fifth inning with a home run to left, his second homer in three games.

“It had topspin. I didn’t know if it was going to hit the top of the wall,” Stanton said before joking about the spacious dimensions at Marlins Park: “We were just at home. We got to double-check everything.”

Pablo Sandoval lined a 1-1 fastball off Nolasco over the right field wall with one out in the bottom of the sixth for the Giants’ only run.

Three of San Francisco’s first four hits off Nolasco over the first five innings were doubles. The Giants left runners on third base in the third and fifth innings.

First baseman Gaby Sanchez had a busy night on the field, making seven unassisted groundball outs, including against the first three batters in the first inning.

The Marlins blew a chance for insurance in the top of the eighth inning. Nolasco led off with a single on a 3-2 pitch after falling behind in the count 0-2. Reyes followed with a single on a poor pop bunt that Cain missed despite a diving effort.

Nolasco was forced out at third on Emilio Bonifacio’s bunt. Ramirez then hit a sharp bouncer to third base where Sandoval stepped on the bag and threw to first for the double play.

The Giants came right back in the bottom half of the inning when pinch hitter Gregor Blanco led off with a double to right. Angel Pagan reached on a fielder’s choice bunt that catcher Brett Hayes one-hopped to first base for an error.

Melky Cabrera bounced out sharply to first base, keeping Blanco at third and advancing Pagan to second. Sandoval was intentionally walked and Nolasco was lifted for Mujica.

Mujica was able to get Posey to hit into the double play.

“The ball is bouncing our way,” Guillen said.

“If I make that move in Miami, that’s a double off the wall, two runs in. I hope it stays like that. I mean, how many moves did I make in Miami that was the wrong move? Three? Three in a row?

“I was not looking for a double play. I was looking for a strike out or one run in and tie the game. That’s a plus that we got a double play.”

Bell came in for the ninth and pitched a one-two-three inning. In his last appearance, he allowed two runs Monday in a non-save situation, bloated his ERA to 10.80.

“Plain and simple, if you look at the bad month I had in April, if I throw strikes I get the job done. Plain and simple. I was focused on just throwing strikes,” said Bell, whose ERA dropped to 9.39.

Stanton summed up Bell’s performance like this: “He was bing-bang-boom. He was going right after them.”

After goign 8-14 in April, the Marlins are thrilled to start off May with a win.

“I think a lot of people took it as, ‘Hey, April is gone. A new month.’ What a great way to start it. Hopefully we can keep it going,” Nolasco said.